LightSquared Claims GPS Fix, Coalition Skeptical

LightSquared signed an agreement yesterday with Javad GNSS to develop a system that it claims will eliminate related interference issues between LightSquared’s planned 4G broadband network transmitters and high-precision GPS devices. According to LightSquared, “Javad GNSS has completed the design, made prototypes and tested those prototypes. Preproduction units will be released for public tests in October, followed by mass production.” It said high-precision receivers for positioning applications are expected to go to market by November and precision timing devices by March. “LightSquared has oversimplified and greatly overstated the significance of the claims of a single vendor to have ‘solved’ the interference issue,” said the Coalition to Save Our GPS. “There have been many vendor claims that have not proved out in rigorous tests and the demanding tests of marketplace acceptance. Moreover, this is not a one-size-fits-all situation and a few prototypes does not a solution make.” The coalition said that about a million high-precision GPS receivers are now being used in the U.S. for agriculture, construction, aviation, surveying, scientific and safety-of-life applications. “If and when solutions are available,” it added, “LightSquared must accept responsibility for paying to replace the existing base of existing equipment with new products.”